French and UN helicopters have attacked Ivory Coast's presidential palace in the main city of Abidjan where incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has been holed up.
The copters targeted Gbagbo's residence and military barracks in Abidjan hours after forces loyal to internationally recognized Ivory Coast President-elect Alassane Ouattara launched a new offensive against Gbagbo on Monday, AFP reported.
"The final assault for the total capture of the residence and the palace will take place in the coming hours. The operation is expected to finish tonight," said Sidiki Konate, the spokesman for Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Soro.
The joint UN-French campaign began after the world body's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requested French President Nicolas Sarkozy for an urgent military action, saying it was necessary to protect the civilian population from onslaughts by Gbagbo's forces, under the UN resolution 1975.'
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The situation in the Ivory Coast is rather like that in the former Yugoslavia, which followed a similar cycle of political systems failing, rising violence with civilians often the victims and an international community for a long period only willing to take very limited steps in the face of a humanitarian disaster and likely war crimes.
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